This invention relates generally to broadband content distribution and systems that record the distributed content for subsequent display.
Broadband content distribution may involve the distribution of television programming to a large number of receivers as well as the distribution of other forms of content. Content which may be amenable to wide spread distribution includes video, graphics, software, audio and games.
The ability to charge customers for content in many cases means that the type of content that may be distributed may be of higher quality. Thus, pay-per-view television programming is widely accepted.
However, there is a considerable demand for the distribution of content without charge. Conventional television broadcasts subsidize distribution through an advertising scenario. Similarly, in connection with the Internet, a large amount of content is distributed for free with the hope that viewers will patronize advertisers that pay for banner ads that accompany the content.
Thus, it would be desirable to include advertising material or other interruptions in the course of a wide variety of content that might be distributed for free or at reduced charge in a broadband distribution network. However, many content formats are not amenable to the ready incorporation of advertising material. For example, games and software could be distributed with banner ads. However, full screen display of advertisements is generally not viable because there is no way to know when to insert these advertisements in the course of the video game or software operation.
An interruptible content delivery system allows the play of any of a variety of types of selectable content to be paused to permit the automatic insertion of advertising material. Thus, the play of audio, video, games, graphics, software or other media may be paused automatically to allow insertion of advertisements. At the end of the advertisement, the content restarts where it left off.
Generally, advertisers prefer to target their advertisements to specific demographic profiles. For example, advertisers may attempt to target a specific demographic profile based on the nature of a particular type of content such as the nature of the television program. The advertisers may determine that people who enjoy particular types of content, such as particular television programs, may be more likely to purchase particular types of products.
Advertisers, who prefer to maintain an image, may prefer to avoid having their advertisements run in conjunction with content that may have controversial aspects. Controversial aspects may include violence, language, adult situations, sexual content and the like. Thus, advertisers may prefer to target their advertisements to that content more likely to be enjoyed by the advertiser's target audience.
Of course in some potential interruptible content delivery systems, it may not be known in advance what content may be played at any given time. Instead, in many situations, the user may be in control of selecting the content that is played at any particular time. Thus, the issue arises how to insert advertisements in a fashion that may be acceptable to advertisers. In particular, it may be necessary to ensure that specific ads are associated with particular types of content either because of the type of content involved or because the advertiser may believe that particular types of audiences are more likely to be attracted to specific types of content.
Distributed content may be recorded on a digital recording device for subsequent replay from random access memories. Such recording devices can pause ongoing play of content while continuing to record incoming content. Digital recording devices, using random access memories, are more versatile than videocassette recorders that use tape or serial memories. Thus, digital recording devices are becoming increasingly popular with consumers.
Generally, when the distributed content is a television program that includes advertisements, the advertisements are recorded together with the program content. When the recorded content is replayed, the advertisements may be outdated. Thus, the replay of outdated advertisements may seem odd. Moreover, from the advertiser's point of view, the value of repeated play of the content, including the advertisements, may be reduced.
Thus, there is also a need for improved techniques for storing advertisements in digital recording devices and for ways to generally enable advertising to be inserted in an interruptible content delivery system and more specifically to enable inserting advertising so as to implement advertiser guidelines.